FRONT YARDS, THOSE MOST PUBLIC OF PRIVATE SPACES, HAVE EVOLVED MIGHTILY since their earliest incarnations. In the 1950s, a front yard was something you simply maintained. At most, it consisted of a clipped lawn, a concrete walk, and some ornamental shrubs to camouflage the foundation. As long as you kept it free of trash and feral cats, you—and your neighbors—were happy. They’re now elaborate mediums of self-expression—stages on which lavender and manzanita tell the world you’re a responsible water user, while salmonberries and salal showcase a fluency in Northwest ecosystems. We stake an identity through our front yards.
The phenomenon is a 19th-century invention. That’s when Portland, like many American cities, started expanding at a rapid pace, and broad development forces, including streetcar lines and fire-safety codes, began shaping the crowded tenements and cramped urban yards of yore into the spacious grid of dwellings, each neatly set back on four sides, that we know today.
So we Americans are front-yard people. And here in Portland, some of us transform those yards in ways that are quite compelling. Like building a luxury resort for birds and bees. Helping to create a local food economy. Sharing beauty with our neighbors, and making the city a better place. Here are six approaches that may inspire you to rethink your own.
Published: April 2010
This is great news. I am buying a beautiful century home near Multnomah Village with an unusually large extra lot that is perfect for a vegetable garden. But instead of bringing me joy, it is actually bringing me fear! I don’t really know how to begin to garden, let alone keep it up! This might just be my salvation! Sign me up!!
I have called both Seven Dees and Portland Nursery and neither one of them have the “Lomatia myricoides” in the picture of Ketzel Levine’s house. Can someone please email me with the information on where I can purchase this plant?
Thank you
If anyone can give me a place to purchase the Lomatia myricoides pictured above, my email is Labartist@aol.com.
Thanks
Thank you for your article. I bought a home in New Orleans in 2004 and want to plant a front garden that will enhance the 1926 bungalow architecture. Having moved from the west coast you’ve inspired me to restore the gardens that were once here. Thank you!